Indian-origin judge appointed to S Africa's highest judicial bench
Johannesburg (PTI): Narandran 'Jody' Kollapen, who is Indian origin, has been appointed to South Africa's highest judicial bench, the Constitutional Court.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday announced the appointment of 64-year-old Kollapen and Rammaka Steven Mathopo as the latest additions to the Constitutional Court after a lengthy process of public interviews.
Kollapen and Mathopo were among the five candidates recommended to Ramaphosa in October this year for the two vacancies.
Both will take office from January 1, 2022.
Kollapen was interviewed twice before for appointment to the Constitutional Court but was unsuccessful then despite having served two terms as an acting judge of the same institution.
The Presidency said Kollapen and Mathopo have illustrious careers in the legal profession and the judiciary.
Kollapen, who has now been elevated from his position as a judge of the high court, started legal practice in 1982, focussing largely on public interest work. He joined Lawyers for Human Rights in 1993 and went on to become its national director in 1995, serving in that position until the end of 1996.
In 1997, he took up a post as commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission and went on to serve as chair of the commission for seven years from 2002 until 2009. He was appointed as chair of the South African Law Reform Commission in April, 2016.
Kollapen serves on the structures of numerous NGOs and community-based organisations, including the Legal Resources Centre, the Foundation for Human Rights and Laudium Care Services for the Aged.
He has also been invited to speak on human rights issues across the world, including at the United Nations and Harvard University.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Durban University of Technology; the Turquoise Harmony Institute's award for his contribution to society in the area of law and human rights; and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Congress of Business and Economics, which was born out of the erstwhile Transvaal Indian Congress from the days when Mahatma Gandhi was in South Africa.
In 2010, while in the position of acting Constitutional Court judge, Kollapen made a strong statement about cultural and national identity as the keynote speaker at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the religious organisation Siva Gnana Sabhay in Lenasia.
Kollapen said there was no need to shy away from the unique Indian identity, culture and religion brought to South Africa by the first indentured labourers 150 years earlier, but that South Africans of Indian-origin should use this to help build the rainbow nation as citizens of the country.
Kollapen's mother was among the women in the historic protest march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the apartheid-era government, in 1956 to protest discriminatory laws. She was arrested and jailed twice for her participation in passive resistance protests.
Kollapen often recalled how his mother had told him that she was pregnant with him at the time.
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Maliwal facing corruption case, blackmailed by BJP to be part of conspiracy against Kejriwal: AAP
New Delhi (PTI): AAP leader Atishi on Saturday claimed that party MP Swati Maliwal, who has accused Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her, is facing arrest in an illegal recruitment case and she was "blackmailed" by the BJP to become part of the "conspiracy" against the Chief Minister.
Talking to PTI-Video, Atishi, who is also a cabinet minister in the Delhi government, alleged that Maliwal went to the chief minister's official residence on Monday without an appointment.
"Why did she barge inside? Why did she land up at the chief minister's residence without an appointment? Arvind Kejriwal was busy that day and did not meet her. If he had met her that day, the allegations levelled against Bibhav Kumar could have been levelled against him," Atishi said.
She said Maliwal was made the face of this "conspiracy" by the BJP.
"The BJP has a pattern. First they file cases and then threaten to send leaders to jail. Swati Maliwal is facing charges in an illegal recruitment case registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch. An FIR has been registered in the case and it is at a stage where she could be arrested.
"The BJP blackmailed Maliwal and made her the face of this conspiracy," the AAP leader charged.
AAP MP Swati Maliwal has alleged that Kumar assaulted her at Kejriwal's official residence on Monday, slapping and kicking her in the chest and abdomen, charges rejected as "baseless" by the party.
The Delhi Police on Thursday registered an FIR in connection with the alleged assault on Maliwal and named Kumar as an accused.
Atishi said if the Delhi Police is impartial, it should also register an FIR on Kumar's complaint against Maliwal.
"Will the Delhi Police register a case of trespassing, breach of security and obstructing a government servant from discharging his duty against her? If the Delhi Police is impartial, it should register an FIR on Bibhav's complaint. Will it act on his complaint the same way it did on Maliwal's complaint?" she asked.
"Her call records should be looked into and analysed (to see) which BJP leaders she was in touch with," she said.
As part of its probe into the incident, the Delhi Police on Friday took Maliwal to Kejriwal's residence to recreate the crime scene. Her statement was also recorded before a magistrate at the Tis Hazari court.
VIDEO | Here's what Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi (@AtishiAAP) said on CM Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar filing a police complaint against AAP MP Swati Maliwal.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 18, 2024
"Yesterday, Bibhav Kumar has filed a detailed complaint with the Delhi Police about what actually happened… pic.twitter.com/QKQIxInwxZ
